I am only aware of a single pair of Barn Owls on the edge of Beeley Moor, they successfully fledged two young this year and this is probably one of those birds. Hunting around the moor appears to be undertaken almost exclusively in the dark making them difficult to observe but this bird appeared mid-afternoon today providing a rare opportunity to get a photo, against a background of dark coniferous woodland. They struggle to feed when the moorland and its fringes are snow covered for prolonged periods and this perhaps limits their occurrence around the moor.
In the early autumn it looked like this was going to be a Waxwing winter with some large arrivals on the Scottish east coast and smaller flocks further south in England but the arrivals quickly dried up and there were few inland records as autumn turned to winter. So it was a real surprise to receive a call from Ken this morning to say he was watching three birds in Youlgrave feeding on berries by the Health Centre entrance. I didn't manage to get there until mid-afternoon and couldn't find them then, although there were still plenty of berries with Blackbirds and occasionally both Redwing and Fieldfare visiting the Rowen tree. They may still be in the area and plenty of trees with berries so it's worth keeping an eye out and perhaps checking some of the other areas that have had Waxwing in the past.
During the autumn and winter earthworms are an important part of the Common Buzzards diet and they can be seen standing and walking, or even running sometimes, in fields in search of their prey. They often sit on the dry stone walls or, as in this case, a fence post from which they can watch their chosen field. The pale iris on this bird indicates that it is not yet an adult.
Common Buzzard
Several parties of Pink-footed Geese have overflown the area during the past week some still going SE, presumably to the Wash but other skeins have been seen heading back NW as at least 300 did this morning in 2 large skeins. There used to be a distinct gap between birds passing over SE in the autumn and early winter and returning NW in the late winter but that distinction is now rather blurred perhaps linked to the timing of food availability around the Humber and Wash.
The number of Mandarin Duck decrease dramatically on the local rivers during the autumn. For example during my last couple of visits to Chatsworth I haven't seen any on the River Derwent and it appears that after completing their autumn moult birds move on to enclosed waters such as Linacre Reservoir north of Chesterfield and perhaps further afield to Clumber Park. It was a surprise therefore to hear of a large group on the small lakes at Ladygrove in Two Dales. I went up today in rather poor weather and counted at least 60 birds on the upper lake. I'm not a regular visitor to Ladygrove so can't say whether this is a regular gathering or indeed whether this is a particularly large count so it will be interesting to see how the numbers fluctuate over the rest of the winter. Note that it is possible to view them from the main footpath which runs parallel to and well above the lake without disturbing them.
Whilst it remained misty and murky all day in the valley around Darley Dale the moors enjoyed blue skies for the morning but becoming overcast from mid-day. There was a heavy frost overnight with the first icy roads of the winter resulting in a sadly predictable car crash on the Bar Road. Birdwise the Common Crossbill flock is still around the 70 / 40 Acre plantations and numbering around 50 birds this morning. There are still Brambling on Bent Lane, I saw about 350 this evening. A flock of around 500 Lesser Redpoll is difficult to pin down and includes several Mealy (Common) Redpoll although I have yet to see any. This male Stonechat is one of a handful that are still on the moor and looking rather festive in the early morning light, doubtless they will move in to the valleys with the first snow.
